Elimination

No.  It's not what you think.  Okay.  Maybe it is.  After-all, when you eliminate foods from your diet eventually it does leave your body in the form of, well, elimination.  7 foods for 21 days.  That's what I am doing and it's not gonna be easy.  Scratch that.  I am saying it will be easy.  Actually, it already is.

It's The Virgin Diet by J.J. Virgin.  Corn, eggs, soy, gluten, dairy, sugar, and peanuts.  Gluten, check.  Soy, no problem as I buy very little in the way of processed foods which means no hidden soy in our home .  Corn, easy but makes me sad as we eat lots of non-gmo organic tortilla chips with guacamole and salsa - and like with soy, there are no hidden corns for us, though it is an issue if prepackaged foods are part of your diet.  Peanuts-yeah, I don't eat them.  I eat lots of other nuts but this one is easy.  Now it gets a little dicey.  

It really comes down to breakfast.  Let's talk about eggs.  Eggs.  I have eaten an egg pretty much every day of my life for 42 years.  Not kidding.  Luckily, I eat fresh veggie omelettes and have already found it easy to eliminate the egg from said omelette and just have a fresh veggie and sausage or bacon bowl each morning this week.  And, there are enough options for substituting eggs in baking that I have it covered.  Dairy, ah, dairy.  I am a coffee drinker. That means half and half in my coffee.  I have tried any non-dairy alternatives and have yet to find one I like.  And no, I do not like coconut milk.  Don't even suggest it.  I sit here this morning at Whole Foods writing this as I continue my quest for cream for my coffee.  Otherwise, dairy is not an issue for me.  My kids only drink almond milk.  We are not big on cheese and yogurt for the sake of cheese and yogurt, so I am good.  Finally, the sugar.  Ok.  Again, it comes back to breakfast and coffee...and if I am honest, sweet tea.  You know, the housewine of the South.  (Having an identity crisis here folks.) I know I can give up the tea for

3 weeks.  It's the sugar in my coffee that's the issue. 

I make no claims that I can overcome this  ever so small glitch in my health plan.

In fact, I am sure you will be reading more about this as this journey goes on.  With all of that said, what I really want to tell you about is the mayo I found.  Seriously.  Other than my coffee and sweet teas woes, I was stressing over this small thing.  I have poured over blogs and recipes and looked at alternatives and was nearly in tears as I shopped this week for our dinner of turkey burgers and sweet potato fries when I contemplated a lettuce wrapped burger with mayo.  That, my friends is when God stepped in and told me to look one more time and this is what I found.  Just Mayo.

It is canola based which has always been questionable for me.  But, as my mayo consumption is actually fairly low (it's not like we go through a jar a week) I am good with this.  I am not gonna lie.  I broke down in tears in the organic aisle at Kroger.  It happened.  So, there it is.  7 foods for 21 days and a mayo that makes it all okay.  Here is another shot of the mayo just for fun.

 

The Moon's Big Bedroom Redo

I'm a little embarrassed to have folks over sometimes.  Our house is in desperate need of some love.  I know.  First world problems.  Truly.   I have a room that I LOVE, which is our dining room and several rooms that I hate.  The Sun's room is also pretty fantastic even if I do say so myself.  That's where the Moon's room redo comes in.

Both children had decent rooms that fit their styles and needs.  But, neither was sleeping well.  After much consideration, we I decided to flip the rooms.  Once the rooms were flipped I quickly moved into action and made a couple of simple changes - primarily touching up picture holes and painting one wall the color of his choice and now we have his Hobbit room.  Perfect for any tween/teen boy.

That left the Moon in a sad brown room with brown furniture.  It couldn't be more drab and inappropriate for a girl whose personality knows no bounds like Arwyn.  After a year I have finally begun her room redo.  It's going to take a good month to pull this thing off.  Not gonna lie.  Right now I'm working diligently on the bedding, namely the 100 Good Wishes Quilt that I started collecting the squares, well, let's just say it was sometime ago.

Here's a little sneak peak at the Moon's room redo with the fabric we picked out yesterday for the quilt binding, pillow shams and valances.